By the way, I was unable to access the site again this morning and some others reported the same, but now it is back again.

I checked in on everything and confirmed the transfer is taking place. As soon as the domain is over to Godaddy, all these issues will go away. I hope we don't experience much more downtime in the meantime. The old registrar is just a nightmare!

Congrats Daiv. 10 years is a long time or not...depends from where you look.

But I still cannot understand one thing with this godown situation. When I look at the dates ant times when you were posting things a lot happened since the thing was discowered. Here it go blank from thursday (may 3rd) till saturday evening (20 h CET) it didn't work. AT ALL. How come you have been able to post?????

Maja - the site was actually "up" and working the whole time. What wasn't working was the domain name. Computers use numbers, not names to do their communication. So around the world there are a relative few computers called "Domain Name Servers" or DNS. The sole purpose of these computers is to take a name like cactiguide.com and convert it to an internet protocol number or IP address.

When the domain expired, the registrar who I paid for the name changed the DNS to point to their "parked" page. Then I had to renew the domain, but it takes time for the change to propagate or spread around the different name servers. They don't all update at the same time. So some people could access the site right away, while others had to wait longer. To further the delay, sometimes your computer or your ISP will cache the DNS locally and so even though you could access it, it doesn't.

Wow... time flies, doesn't it? Next month, it will be 5 years since I have joined this awesome learning place.Thanks Daiv for the awesome work you've put in for so many years. Thank you everyone for making it such a great place.

Probably because you tried pinging cactiguide.com while the DNS link was down Had you instead pinged the IP that the site is attached to you would of got a reply, could likely also have opened the site using that IP number.

I thought it was The End of The World as I have come to know it! Couldn't figure out how Thread notices were still coming if domain was down -- but I don't understand any of that stuff anyway. It's only been 6 mos since I've become active, but the friends/teachers/contacts/etc. was absolutely invaluble to my Sanity. Did learn I need to take e-mail addresses so (God forbid) if some other sort of similar thing happens, I can do an "End Around" until Daiv bails us out again! I'm so glad each & every one of us is helping make Planet Earth smaller, more hospitable, & more humane -- inspite of what world media makes it sound like! Here's to another 10 & the legacy that already exists! Peter

Once bitten by the cactus collecting/growing bug, there is no known cure!There's no 12 step programme for Cactaholics...so I shall just have to get some more!!

hoteidoc wrote: I'm so glad each & every one of us is helping make Planet Earth smaller, more hospitable, & more humane

You said it! The group of folks is really the key here. I get more credit than I deserve on it. As mentioned already in the thread. It all sort of just happened. The forum was a whim. Early adopters like John Chipendale really made the difference. I think there is something about plant people - especially C&S folks that is just overall more friendly. Maybe because the plants are pretty low maintenance easy-going and slower taking patience. It kind of hones ones personality.

Maybe I'm going to far with that, but if we ever need to put together an infomercial...